White Shadows
by Mandje
Summary: This was the first time Neal felt like Peter had let him down instead of the other way around.
1. Chapter 1

White Shadows

**Summary: **This was the first time Neal felt like Peter had let him down instead of the other way around. One of the many possibilities of what could happen at the beginning of season 3. **Spoilers **for the entire first and second seasons. NOT slash.

**Disclaimer:** If I actually owned White Collar, do you really think I'd be posting this story on this website? No offense.

**A/N:** I apologize in advance for any spelling errors in this story. English is not my first language and I haven't found a beta yet.

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****Chapter 1: Betrayal **

This was the first time Neal felt like Peter had let him down instead of the other way around. As he stood in the storage unit surrounded by the treasures of the u-boat, he thought about everything that had happened today, being kidnapped, almost being killed (twice) and Peter's accusation.

"_You won't get away with this" Adler said aiming his gun straight at Neal's chest. Never before had Neal felt such fear of dying. He never did like guns to begin with. _

_After that everything happened so fast. Peter saved his life, something he was and always would be grateful for. At first his partner hadn't seemed upset at all, but when Neal was about to get in the car with Diana and Jones, Peter stopped him. He had never seen Peter so furious "You did this" the accusation was harsh and sent a shock of pain through Neal's heart._

"_Peter must have seen something that made him suspect me" _Neal thought as his mind snapped back to the present. He looked around, studying the paintings and other valuables for a bit. A few years ago, before he went to prison, he wouldn't have thought twice about selling the paintings to the highest bidder. A few hours ago he wouldn't have thought twice about telling Peter about the note he'd found in his apartment and the treasure it led to. But now, he couldn't really do either of those things.

There was only one person he could tell about this. He pulled out his phone and dialed Mozzie's number, one of the few friends that stood by him no matter what.

"Mozz, can you come over" Neal asked, an urgent tone creeping into the question.

"Is this about the antenna?" Mozzie had every right to be suspicious. Neal wondered if his friend still had the antenna and what he was planning to do with it now that the boat was destroyed.

" I'm not going for another ride in the suitmobile" Mozzie stated. obviously still shaken by the events of earlier that day.

"Relax Mozz, this is about something else" Neal reassured his friend "Just hurry"

"I walk in a delicate pace" Mozzie reminded him before ending the call. Neal marveled at the paintings once more before locking up the storage unit and heading back up to his apartment.

* * *

Peter was angry, no that wasn't the right word, he was _furious_. How could Neal do something like this? After working together for almost a year, Peter had finally started to trust Neal and now it turned out it was all a con? That Neal was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to cut a nice deal and run?

"_What happened boss?" Jones and Diana had asked looking between him and Neal's retreating form. _

"_Neal conned us, that's what happened" Was Peter's harsh reply. Without saying anything else he got in his black Ford and drove home. _He desperately wanted to talk to El. She would know what to do.

After the initial anger wore off, Peter started to realize maybe Neal deserved more than this. He had been quick to accuse the conman without any clear evidence. Still he would look into what happened and if he found anything linking Neal to the explosion, he would haul Neal's ass back to prison himself.

In less than 30 minutes Peter was home. He quickly parked the car in front of the house and hurried inside. "Honey, I'm home" To his surprise there's was no answer. It was eerie quiet and not even Satchmo had come to greet him at the door like the faithful dog usually did.

Peter's cop instinct got the better of him as he unholstered his gun. Slowly making his way towards the kitchen, he felt a cool breeze that wasn't supposed to be there. As he neared the back he finally started to understand why no one had answered him. The Kitchen door was wide open, glass from the window shattered all over the floor. There was something shiny between the shards of glass. As Peter got closer he realized what it was ….El's wedding ring.

**TBC**

A/N: I know this was a very short chapter but I wanted to see what you guys think first. I promise the next chapter will be longer. Reviews always make me happy, even the ones with constructive criticism!:-)


	2. Chapter 2

**White Shadows**

**A/N:** All I can say is 'wow' I hoped maybe two or three people would review the first chapter, but this is sooo much more then I hoped for! Thank you all for your reviews, tips and comments! I really, really appreciate it!

**Disclaimer:** Nope, White Collar is still not mine!

A big thank you to Stealth Dragon who beta'd this chapter for me!

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**Chapter 2: Con or man?**

"I told you this would happen" Mozzie said, watching his friend pacing back and forth through the apartment. "Suits are not to be trusted." Mozzie had to admit he had really started to like Mr. and Mrs. Suit, but he had known from the beginning that one day they would betray his best friend. Cons and agents weren't supposed to be partners or friends.

Neal sighed. "Even after everything I did for Peter he still doesn't trust me" When Neal was accused of stealing the pink diamond a little over a year ago, he understood why Peter hadn't trusted him right away when he claimed to be innocent. But this was different, Neal had sacrificed so much to stay on the straight and narrow but for Peter it never seemed to be enough.

"I almost died today, Mozz" Neal moved his hands through his dark brown hair "Twice."

Mozzie nodded. He knew how it felt to be so close to death, after all. "If you need money, I'm sure I could liquidate some assets for you" He offered. Neal looked hesitant before slowly shaking his head.

"I'm not going to run Mozz" Neal replied. "There's something I need to show you." He wasn't sure if showing Mozzie what was inside the storage unit was the best idea, but he could really use his best friends opinion right now.

Mozzie didn't seem at all surprised that Neal hadn't just invited him over to play shrink, and silently followed his friend out of the apartment.

* * *

10 minutes later they were standing in front of the storage unit that contained the u-boat's treasures. "If this is some kind of joke in reference to the time I lived in a storage unit, it isn't funny," Mozzie said as Neal pulled out a key and showed it to him.

"When I came home today I found this key, with a note telling me to come here," Neal explained, choosing to ignore his friend's earlier comment, even though he knew Mozzie meant well. Neal slowly opened the door and flipped the light switch next to it. As the singular light bulb in the room came to life, Mozzie could only stare in awe at what was revealed to him.

"Holy J. Edgar Hoover," was all Neal's best friend whispered as he moved around the room, looking at the various crates and paintings.

Neal was about to ask Mozzie for some advice about whether or not to tell Peter, when he was loudly interrupted by his cellphone. He grabbed it out of his pocket, intending to ignore the call when he noticed it was his landlady, June, who was trying to reach him. June never called. He shot Mozzie an apologetic look before answering.

"June?" Worry was evident in Neal's voice "Are you alright?" he quickly asked as he heard a loud crashing noise in the background.

"I'm fine but I think you should come over right away." His landlady's voice sounded urgent.

"What's the matter?" The tone of Neal's voice made Mozzie drop the jewelry he was inspecting. Something wasn't right.

"Peter is here looking for you. I'm not sure what is going on but he demanded to see the storage room in your apartment," June explained.

_That's odd_, Neal thought. Why would Peter want to see the storage room? The only things in there were his paintings.

Neal sighed. "I'll be right there." He quickly ended the call and grabbed his fedora.

"I have to go, Moz," he said by way of apology. His friend just nodded, probably already guessing it had something to do with Peter, or The Suit as, Mozzie liked to call him.

"Wait, what are we going to do about this?" Mozzie gestured at the boxes surrounding them. "If you need a fence—"

"I'll deal with that later," Neal interrupted. "I've got other problems to deal with first." Before Mozzie could ask any more questions, his friend had already left.

Mozzie thought about following his friend to make sure he wasn't being arrested but he still had some looking around to do in the storage unit. Neal would probably be just fine on his own.

* * *

When Neal rushed through the door of his apartment he had not expected Peter to be waiting for him. Before Neal could say or do anything, his partner grabbed him roughly by the shoulders and slammed him hard into the wall.

"You are going to tell me everything right now, Caffrey!" His voice was beyond furious as he shook Neal to stress his point.

Neal was stunned. He had never been treated this way by Peter before. The prison guards at Rikers used to push him around and rough him up, the cops that hated him called him Caffrey, but surely his partner, his friend, wouldn't do such things.

"I already told you the truth, Peter" Neal whispered, looking into his partner's eyes without struggling to remove himself from Peter's iron grip.

"I don't know what game you're playing but you are going to tell me exactly what happened today," Peter spoke in a dangerous voice as he finally stepped back and released Neal.

Neal straightened himself and shot Peter an annoyed glare. "You were with me the whole time." He had enough of being accused of something he didn't do. Right now, he really needed Peter to trust him.

"Besides, you can check my anklet," he softly added. Hating the fact that his partner would trust the tracking data over him anytime.

"I already did," Peter immediately snapped back, hurting Neal's feeling even more. Thank god he was a major con artist and had learned over the years to hide his true emotions.

"Then you know I didn't do anything," Neal stated as he headed towards the door and held it open for Peter. "I think you should leave," he added, not looking anywhere else but at his partner.

Peter, however, refused to move. He was still rooted to his spot near the wall staring blankly out the window. "I know you would never…" he started as a way of apology.

This got Neal's attention. It seemed as if all the anger in Peter had just disappeared in to thin air. "Know I would never what, Peter?" He asked as he softly closed the door and walked up to his partner.

Peter suddenly turned around to face Neal, his face was a mixture of anger, fear and sadness. Something Neal had never seen before. "They took El," Peter whispered.

"Who took her?" Neal urged Peter to explain but his partner seemed hesitant, not sure if he could still trust him. Neal shook his head. He didn't have time for his emotions right now, they needed to find Elisabeth.

"I don't know," Peter replied with a sad note in his voice. "All I found was this." He fumbled around in his pocket before pulling out a crumbled yellow paper, which he handed to Neal.

Neal quickly unfolded the note and didn't even need to read it to realize who had kidnapped his partner's wife. His eyes went wide with fear and a cold chill started to spread through his body.

"This is Adler's handwriting," he finally uttered.

**TBC**

Please keep the reviews coming! I'd love to know what you thought of this chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**White Shadows**

**A/N**: Thank you all again for the great reviews and for the 'story alerts'. Can't get enough of them(hint, hint). Many, many thanks to Stealth Dragon for beta reading this chapter!

**Disclaimer:** White Collar is not mine…unfortunately!

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****Chapter 3: Guilt and Innocence**

_No_, was all Peter's mind allowed him to think after it finally registered what Neal had just told him. Adler was dead. Peter had shot him. He couldn't possibly still be alive could he?

Neal said nothing. He just stared at his partner, his piercing blue eyes looking for any clue that might tell him what Peter was thinking. After several minutes Neal turned his attention to the small paper he still clutched in his hands.

We will contact you in two days, do not bring the FBI in to this, if you ever want to see your wife again.

It was this one, stupid sentence that had turned Peter's entire world upside down. Just like it had only been a few words that had done the same for Neal._ You did this_. Neal shook his head and cleared his mind.

"Why did you come here, Peter?" he softly asked his partner. Peter had made it very clear to him that he was just a con and would always be a con in his eyes. So why had Peter decided to trust him with this?

Peter finally looked up and focused on Neal's eyes. "Because I know you would never hurt El," he finally admitted.

At this point, Peter figured he had two options. He could either call in the marshals, allow them to arrest Caffrey and haul his ass back to prison, or he could give Caffrey the benefit of the doubt. _No one is guilty until proven otherwise_, he reminded himself.

_But there IS proof_ a voice in his head shouted. "Neal, I've seen it," Peter told the ex con. "You can stop lying, I know the truth." Before Peter came to Neal's apartment he had stopped by the office. Not to tell Hughes about what happened, because the note had explicitly told him not to, but to ask for a warrant to search the storage room in the apartment.

Hughes, who had never really liked Caffrey to begin with, gave Peter permission to do whatever he thought was necessary to find out whether their informant was guilty or not.

Neal looked genuinely confused. "Seen what, Peter?" he asked. His eyes widened a little, which didn't go unnoticed by Peter. _He knows exactly what I'm talking about_.

Neal however, started to suspect Peter had somehow found out about the locker and the valuables inside it. Maybe Mozzie had contacted him? No. His best friend would never do that without telling him first.

Peter finally moved from his spot near the window and headed towards the white door that led to the storage room in Neal's apartment. Neal was about to protest because he was sure his partner would be buried under a lot of paintings if he opened the door right now. But when Peter did just that, nothing happened.

Neal furrowed his brow. "That's odd," he whispered to himself as he made his way towards the storage room. He had stuffed a lot of paintings in that room the last few weeks. He was even more surprised when his partner casually disappeared behind the door as if there was nothing blocking his path.

Neal quickly followed Peter and could only gasp in awe as he entered the completely empty storage room. All his paintings were gone. As if they had never been there in the first place.

Peter said nothing, he just stood there, in the middle of the room shooting angry glares at the ex con. Neal finally understood why his partner thought he had stolen the paintings. Whoever had moved the artifacts to the locker for Neal to find must have swapped the real paintings for his. Neal had to admit, this did not bode well for him.

"Listen Peter," he started. "I'm telling you the truth right now, I didn't have anything to do with this."

Peter knew Neal was referring not only to kidnapping his wife but also to stealing the U-boat's artifacts. Therefore, his reply was once again: "I know you would never hurt El."

Neal nodded. At least that was something. He considered telling Peter about what had really happened to the precious U-boat paintings, but it was quite obvious his partner wouldn't believe him at this point. Maybe he could explain it to Sarah first or maybe he could….he stopped his mind from going any further. He had to leave things the way they were for now.

For a moment both Neal and Peter just stood there in the middle of the empty room, looking at each other. Then, as if they had made some silent agreement, they headed back towards the living room where they both sat down on the couch

"Tell me what happened before you came here," Neal asked, switching to FBI consultant mode.

Peter sighed and launched into his story of how he found the kitchen door ajar, where he found El's wedding ring and, last but not least, how he found his faithful dog, Satchmo, locked in the basement with a note pinned to his tail.

"After I found the note I came here to…." Peter stopped to find the right words but Neal already knew what Peter was trying to say. _To look for evidence_.

Neal considered what Peter had just told him. "I think you should tell Jones and Diana about this," he finally decided. "They can help you." If Elizabeth hadn't been involved in this, Neal would probably have tried to go after Adler alone. _If_.

"No," was Peter's immediate reply. "They told me not to, I can't risk her life!" he exclaimed.

Peter was right, they couldn't just risk El's life. He considered his options and could only come up with one alternative. "I've got an idea," he said as he pulled out his cell and dialed Mozz, _again_.

"Mozz, it's me," he said with a note of urgency. "Meet me at the park in five minutes."

Neal turned back to Peter thinking about whether it would be safe to leave his partner alone in his apartment. Maybe he could ask June to keep an eye on Peter? On the other hand, the FBI agent seemed so focused on finding his wife right now, it would probably be alright to let him stay.

"I won't be long," Neal said as he grabbed his coat and fedora, heading towards the front door.

Peter just nodded, but before Neal got a chance to shut the door behind him his partner called out to him. "Neal…I..." Peter wanted to tell Neal that he was sorry about his actions earlier, he wanted to ask his partner about his version of today's events, but all that came out was a simple, "Thank you."

Neal nodded and flashed him a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Peter knew his words weren't enough to fix everything that had happened between them, but it was a start.

* * *

Less than five minutes later, Neal reached the park and sat down on the usual green painted bench. After a few minutes a man dressed in a gray trench coat made his way across the park and sat down next to Neal. The man was wearing a big brown hat with matching sunglasses.

"I saw a mockingbird in the park today," the man next to him whispered as he started to unfold the newspaper he was holding. Neal just rolled his eyes.

"We don't have time for that now, Mozz." He was surprised his friend hadn't opened their conversation by talking about the paintings still locked away where only Neal, and now Mozzie, could find them. But, then again, Mozz had always been unpredictable.

"I don't know anyone by that name, sir," the man replied. He leaned closer to Neal and added, "You are supposed to ask what color the mockingbird was."

Neal took a deep breath. "Adler's taken Elizabeth," he told his best friend, who in turn immediately dropped the newspaper and took of his hat.

"So, you want my help to track down Adler?" Mozzie asked, all traces of the mysterious stranger he pretended to be only moments earlier, were gone.

"Adler is dead, Mozz," Neal answered. "I've seen it myself, he can't be alive." He reached into his coat pocket and managed to pull out the note El's kidnapers had left behind. He figured Peter wouldn't need it right now and it might give Mozzie an idea about what to do next. "They left this," he said, handing the note over to his best friend.

Mozzie eyed the note suspiciously but didn't make a move to take it from Neal. "What if it was just another one of his cons?" Mozzie asked, looking around the park to see if there was anyone familiar lurking around.

Neal noticed. "Adler's not here, Mozz!" he whispered, his voice strained with frustration.

Mozz flashed him a small grin by way of apology.

"Then how are we going to find Mrs. Suit?" Mozzie asked.

"I honestly don't know," Neal answered. But as he took a closer look at the note, Adler's note, he noticed something strange. The handwriting was very similar to Adler's , but a closer look revealed a few flaws. Adler was also the kind of guy who just took whatever he wanted, he wouldn't kidnap someone to get to Peter or Neal, he would just go straight for them. This is very strange, Neal thought.

"I'll see what I can find out on my end," Mozzie said, pulling Neal from his thoughts "Just please remember the mockingbird I saw was auburn for the next time we meet," he added as he stood up and replaced his hat. He gave Neal a curt nod goodbye and left with the newspaper tucked under his arm.

**TBC**

**A/N:** I know Peter might not be acting like himself at the moment, but don't worry this story isn't just going to focus on finding Elisabeth. There will be plenty of chapters coming up in which Peter has to learn to trust Neal again and other Neal/Peter friendship stuff(no slash!).


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